大般涅槃經集解 1.13

1.13

Zhixiu's note: This is the comprehensive name for the supreme virtue of complete ultimate perfection. If stated fully according to the old version, it should be *mahāparinirvāṇa*. The Path cuts off the hundred negations, yet the principle returns to a single unity. Because it returns to a single unity, those with consciousness all attain it; because it cuts off the hundred negations, no words can exhaust it. Yet since we see the name through traces, we also seek the root through the name. The arising of names and traces began in India. In our Great Liang, it should in principle also have a title. But while the recent expansion of the Path was made manifest in the Western Regions, it is unknown how this region could translate it. For this reason, former and later sages all adhered to the old version, transmitting without creating; thus it was inscribed at the head of the sūtra, naming both essence and virtues. A name is used to name an essence, and the essence therefore possesses virtues. The essence is the root of the wondrous existence of complete ultimate perfection; the virtues are the streams of prajñā and vimokṣa. Discussing the virtues, they are manifold; considering the essence, it is only one. Although the names differ, in reality there is no distinction. Why? The very essence of complete ultimate perfection, having the meaning of an exemplary model, is named dharmakāya; possessing the function of tranquil illumination, it is designated prajñā; possessing the virtue of freedom from encumbrance, it is termed vimokṣa. Thus, the essence of vimokṣa is capable of illumination, and the essence capable of illumination is vimokṣa; there is no separate essence that possesses manifold virtues. Hence the comprehensive name 'nirvāṇa' crowns the title. The complete essence is called comprehensive, and because the essence is complete, it fully contains manifold meanings. The subsequent text in the 'Chapter on the Merits of the Name' explains the name with manifold meanings, saying: 'Endowed with the eight flavors, it is called mahānirvāṇa. The eight flavors are: first, permanent; second, constant; third, peaceful; fourth, cool; fifth, unaging; sixth, deathless; seventh, stainless; and eighth, delightful.' Examining the intention of this sūtra in establishing the teaching: the Tathāgata began transforming beings in the Deer Park and exhausted his purport at Vulture Peak, clarifying only that the culmination of the path is ashes and extinguishment, and that goodness must lead to bodhi; he did not yet distinguish that all who possess consciousness and harbor breath will achieve the peerless, but only spoke of a lifespan twice the previous number, without clarifying that the Correct Awakening is empty, concentrated, serene, and unextinguished. Now this sūtra takes the wondrous existence of the ultimate limit as its compass and the permanently abiding buddhadhātu as its core doctrine, clarifying that for icchantikas the primary cause does not change, and distinguishing that the dharmakāya stands lofty as the complete fruit—it is the supreme teaching of the remainderless, the ultimate discourse of the definitive. *Jing* means 'to pass through.' In India, texts expressing principle are collectively called *sūtra*. *Sūtra* fully encompasses manifold meanings. What are they? Such as producing, subtly manifesting, gushing spring, and chalk line. As for the meaning of 'passing through,' it is merely one of them. However, the classical works of the Liang all take *jing* as their title. Therefore, universal scholars simplify the complex and follow the concise, citing the essential to name it, which neither contradicts the meaning of comprehensive inclusion, nor departs from common usage, thereby achieving conciseness.